Naperville, Elgin, Aurora make Top 10 for DUI arrests in Illinois

Naperville police made 369 arrests for drunken driving in 2015, enough to place them No. 4 out of 570 police agencies surveyed by the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists.

Naperville police made 369 arrests for drunken driving in 2015, enough to place them No. 4 out of 570 police agencies surveyed by the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Naperville, Elgin and Aurora share the distinction of being in the Top 10 among an estimated 570 Illinois law enforcement agencies for making drunken driving arrests in 2015, according to the results of an annual survey conducted by the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists.

It's become something of a tradition for the Naperville Police Department, which for 15 years has been among the top five agencies tallying the most DUI arrests. Naperville finished in fourth place in the most recent survey.

Aurora, which cracked the Top 10 in 2013, rebounded to ninth place from its 2014 ranking of 13, while Elgin finished 2015 in eighth place, according to AAIM statistics. Elgin's ticket tally was up 19 percent, from 228 in 2014 to 271 last year, while Aurora posted a gain of just over 12 percent, from 225 in 2014 to 253 in 2015.

Naperville saw a modest decrease of just under 5 percent, dropping from 387 DUI arrests in 2014 to 369 last year, the AAIM statistics showed.

"Our department continues to prioritize DUI enforcement," Naperville police Cmdr. Jason Arres said Tuesday, following the formal announcement of AAIM's findings. "We want our roadways to be as safe as possible for our families and our community members who live, work and socialize in our town.

"Drinking and driving is an inexcusable crime that will continue to remain one of our top priorities. And we are proud of our officers, who work every night and partake in enforcement against this crime."

AAIM has compiled the DUI statistics since 1990. An estimated 81 percent of the nearly 700 police agencies that received surveys in 2015 responded.

Top honors in 2015 were shared by the Carol Stream and Rockford police departments, both of which notched 464 DUI arrests. Decatur, which finished first in 2014, fell to second place with 405 arrests, followed by Springfield with 385.

Peoria police posted the year's most stunning gain of 84 percent, going from 168 arrests in 2014 to 309 in 2015, good for a fifth place finish. Normal, Cicero and Fairview Heights also made the AAIM Top 10.

Rounding out AAIM's Top 15 were the police departments of Bloomington, Berwyn, Rock Island, Oak Lawn and Lombard, according to the AAIM statistics.

Arrests made by Chicago police declined by 0.2 percent between 2014 and 2015, while Illinois State Police DUI arrests were up by 14 percent during that same period. Chicago is not included in the overall survey because of its size.

The highest DUI arrest rate in the state among departments making at least 200 arrests was Carol Stream, which had 7.61 arrests per sworn officer. Naperville's arrest rate was 2.2 per officer, while Elgin's rate was 1.5 and Aurora's 0.9, the AAIM statistics showed.

"Over the last three decades, progress has been made to help eliminate the devastation caused by impaired driving in Illinois," said Rita Kreslin, AAIM's executive director. "Focused efforts and cooperation of law enforcement agencies, traffic safety advocates and communities have helped to prevent crashes and save thousands of lives."

Kreslin said AAIM "has great respect for all these officers and departments for their aggressive DUI enforcement. We are grateful for their willingness to put forth the extra effort in removing drunk drivers from our roads."

AAIM is a citizen activist group founded in 1982 by victims of drunken driving.